The following collections are a part of the Special and Area Studies Collections (SASC) at UF George A. Smathers Libraries.
To visit or research any of the collections listed here, visit https://sasc.uflib.ufl.edu/ to learn how.
The collection contains photocopies of FBI surveillance records and memoranda arranged chronologically from 1963-1967 with the bulk of the collection covering 1964. Of particular interest are records of a violent Ku Klux Klan rally in September 1963, the attempted murder of local civil rights leader Robert B. Hayling, and the arrest of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Monson's Motor Lodge in June 1964. Sit-ins, beach wade-ins, and night marches are also covered in the reports. According to historian David J. Garrow, FBI activity in St. Augustine differed somewhat from those in other areas of the South because agents were "distinctly hostile to the Klan-friendly, violence-tolerant aura that was manifested by local lawmen, particularly St. John's County Sheriff L.O. Davis" (Garrow 1988, vii). Reports from St. Augustine sometimes reflect this hostility.
The collection also contains a telegram from Robert F. Kennedy pertaining to a particularly violent KKK rally and correspondence from then Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.
The following people are prominently featured in this collection: Farris Bryant (Governor of Florida 1960-1965), L.O. Davis (St. John's County Sheriff), Goldie Eubanks (Reverend and local civil rights leader), Dr. Robert B. Hayling (Local civil rights leader), Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Holstead R. "Hoss" Manucy (Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan), Joseph Shelley (Mayor of St. Augustine 1963-1965), Judge Bryan J. Simpson, and J.B. Stoner (Imperial Wizard of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan).
This collection contains correspondence, newspaper clippings and case briefings. Box 1 contains briefings from civil rights cases in St. Augustine, especially complaints of racial injustice, lack of police protection for demonstrators, and segregation in hospitals, hotels and restaurants. Notable cases include Andrew Young vs. Governor Farris Bryant, regarding the protection of demonstrators in St. Augustine, and Lucille Plummer vs. James Brock (owner of Monson's Motor Lodge) regarding unlawful segregation.
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